


Unresolved

by Harukami



Series: For The Birds [4]
Category: DRAMAtical Murder
Genre: M/M, Multi, still some Koujaku to Aoba
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-15
Updated: 2014-02-15
Packaged: 2018-01-12 13:51:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1187643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harukami/pseuds/Harukami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aoba decides he has to deal with the situation as best as he can; so does Huracan (Tori).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unresolved

"I should go talk to Koujaku," Aoba announces one evening.

They all lift their heads to look at him -- Mink from the decoration he is making with busy fingers (Huracan knows that, at this point, he more or less does it for the money, and a slight sense of sentimentality that only shows in which ones he chooses to keep, or to give to Aoba instead of selling), Ren from where he is curled on the couch next to Aoba, Huracan from his perch over the fireplace. 

"I mean," Aoba says, "I should go back home for a visit..."

Mink seems to consider that. After a long moment, he takes his glasses off and rubs his eyes with the heel of his hand. "If that is what you feel would make this situation be well."

There he goes, Huracan thinks. Letting go of everything; embracing nothing.

"Having this kind of talk over the Coil is... I feel it's not right," Aoba says. "I mean, I understand Koujaku wanted to play it off like it's not important, but I want him to know he still has my friendship. We need to make sure things are still... normal? I want to make sure he knows things haven't changed."

Mink folds his glasses, puts them beside him with a soft clink. "If that's what you wish to do," he says.

Of course, he's thinking it, Huracan thinks. It's impossible not to think it -- that Aoba won't come back. Koujaku is an old friend who has had Aoba's back this entire time; in contrast, there's no saying that Aoba and Mink's relationship is built on anything healthy. They _have_ been rebuilding it, have been carefully exploring their boundaries, their power disparity, have been constructing a relationship from that, but even Huracan thinks that given a choice between the two, it probably shouldn't be a choice.

Aoba, though, doesn't seem to be thinking anything like that. He smiles and nods. "I knew you'd say that," he says. "Do you want to come with me?"

"Hm," Mink says.

"I mean," Aoba says, "I needed to go back sooner or later anyway to check in with Granny, and I need to check how Mizuki's doing, and I guess catch up on affairs back home. I was thinking of maybe making it a week-long visit... no, maybe two weeks, it's a long flight and I can't do it that often. And I haven't introduced you to Granny properly as my boyfriend, though, I mean, I think she gets it..."

Mink lets out a sigh. He says, "If you mean, 'do you want to go back to Japan', I feel no desire to return there. It is not a country that holds any fond memories for me; rather, the opposite. But I have never intended to keep you from returning to your homeland whenever you have wanted to, and if you want me to keep you company, I will accompany you. If you'd rather have privacy for this trip, I am equally content to stay."

"So 'maybe' then?" Aoba asks, a little cheekishly, apparently bolstered by having made any kind of decision at all about what to do with this situation.

"Whatever you wish," Mink says.

Aoba pouts at him, flapping a hand in his direction. He picks up Ren, who immediately shifts for a more comfortable carrying position. "I just want to do right by everyone," he says.

Mink says, "I know. Aoba, though, are you truly comfortable reintroducing me to your grandmother as your partner?"

"Well -- I mean, okay, I haven't come out or anything, but like I said, I think she already knows --"

"It's not that. Doing so will inherently involve either lying to her, or telling the truth."

A heavy silence falls. Ren's ears perk and twitch slightly as he glances up at Aoba, and Huracan wonders, not for the first time, how much he knows. He was asleep for the worst of it, and although he is perceptive, he seems to have large blind spots where it comes to assuming the worst of anyone. 

"I know that," Aoba says.

"Which will you pick?"

"I don't know," Aoba says. He looks a little unwell, pale, and although Huracan isn't the one monitoring Aoba's heart rate, he sees Ren shift and can guess. "But we can't avoid the situation forever."

***

'We can't avoid the situation forever'. 

Those words stick with Huracan and feel far too poignant given his own actions recently. How embarrassing, he thinks, to get himself in a situation in the first place where he'd feel affected by such sentimentality. 

But he's acting -- worse than simply sentimental, he thinks. Worse than simply avoidant. He is being cruel for no reason but to assuage his own feelings. Accepting Beni sexually without revealing any of his own feelings was cruel. Pushing Beni about his feelings for Koujaku just to see him react -- no, to see him hurt -- was cruel. Doing so immediately after climax during sex was incredibly cruel.

And so, this time, he sends the first message: _Beni._

_Look who has decided to send a message! Hah, I hope you didn't think I was waiting for it. After something like that? What a mistake! I was an idiot._

...Had he already composed his reply? Huracan wonders. He shrugs off the emotions he feels stirring and simply replies: _You are right. That was unkind of me. I apologize for that unkindness._

A long silence, before: _You apologize? Huh? Is this because you're coming over here? Don't wanna start shit, is that it?_

_Ah, you've been informed?_ Huracan asks.

_Yeah, of course Aoba told Koujaku he was gonna come to visit, Koujaku's freaking out, man -- ugh, never mind, I shouldn't tell you about that._

Huracan says, _I will neither tell anyone nor abuse the information._

_Uh-huh. Sure you won't._

He supposes he deserves that. _Then never mind._

_Ren and I have been making plans, but he didn't say YOU were coming._ Beni sounds a little aggravated.

_It hasn't been decided. Of course, if Mink goes, I will go. If he does not, I will stay with him._

A laugh. _Pretending you're a good Allmate still?_

_Good or not, I am an Allmate. Mink's desires rule mine. I would not ask to stay home if he goes, nor request to go with Aoba if Mink stays. That is simply how things are,_ Huracan says. There's a strange feeling curling in him, and he doesn't like it. 

_You're a jerk,_ Beni says.

_Granted_ , Huracan says.

Beni is silent for long enough that Huracan wonders if he's gone offline. But then he receives: _Look, it was a mistake. I thought you and I were friends, but we weren't friends. I THOUGHT that since you kind of GOT it, you were safe. But it was the opposite, wasn't it?! I don't want to see your face, so don't come. We're through. If we had anything going, it's over. We're done._

Huracan replays the words over and over, listening to Beni's angry voice, and wonders what he should be feeling right now. He can't even tell, not past his own discomfort. 

_I see. I would like to be friends, but I would understand if I have made that impossible,_ he says, even though, after he says it, he thinks he shouldn't have; better make it a clean cut, and wait for these feelings to go away on their own, naturally. _Regardless, I will not influence Mink and Aoba's decision, and where Mink goes, I will go. If we see each other as a result, I apologize for having to disregard your will._

Beni doesn't reply, and although Huracan waits to see if it's another lengthy reply, or something Beni needs to compose, nothing comes. Eventually, trying to unsettle the heavy, twisting feeling in him, he goes to find Mink, but what he sees there is no consolation -- Mink in his room, gazing vaguely in the direction of his altar, lost in thought and prayer. 

Still, he settles down on the head of the bed, and tries to clear his own mind. It doesn't work; the words keep replaying. 

He should have control of that, he thinks.


End file.
